Patty Kimm Gallery #2 - Casper and the Mallards

Larry & Patty's cat, Casper, would like to befriend the Mallards

The Mallards snub Casper and head into the bay

There are apparently lots of tasty snacks for the Mallards here.

This appears to be Mallard nirvana

One of Bay Hill Conservancy's missions is to provide education about our our flora and fauna. Since Patty has generously shared her Mallard pictures, the least I can do is offer some Mallard Facts. You can check out the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Mallard page by clicking the link provided and learn even more, but here are some "Cool Facts" Cornell offers:

"The Mallard is the ancestor of nearly all domestic duck breeds (everything except the Muscovy Duck). Many of the domestic breeds look like the wild birds, but usually are larger. They are variable in plumage, often lacking the white neck ring or having white on the chest. Feral domestic ducks breed with wild Mallards and produce a variety of forms that often show up with wild ducks, especially in city parks.

Mallard pairs are generally monogamous, but paired males actively pursue forced extra-pair copulations. Copulation between members of a pair usually takes place in the water after a long bout of elaborate displays. Forced copulations are not preceded by displays, and several males may chase a single female and mate with her.

Mallard pairs form long before the spring breeding season. Pairing takes place in the fall, but courtship can be seen all winter. Only the female incubates the eggs and takes care of the ducklings."

Hm.

BTW, I can't explain why Blogger messes up my paragraph spacing. It just does sometimes.

Patty Kimm Gallery #1

The Bay Hill Conservancy is fortunate to have such talented photographes in our ranks. Patty Kimm has shared some outstanding photos from her "catbird seat" in Phase 1. Each of us have experienced glorious sights on this river system never before seen. Sunsets can be a vivid museum-quality Dutch oil painting. Sunrises have upon occasion been so crimson that for all I knew the sky was bleeding.

Storms never fail to impress us with the havoc they play on the water's surface. Just last week there were 6 foot swells washing over our decks.

Who can forget the tornado that plowed through the marina, and hurricane's Katrina and Rita? I cannot imagine the fury of those hurricanes further south, as here it was quite frightening. Thank you for sharing your photos with us, Patty. Her next set of photos will be posted soon.

Carroll Adams, Damien Simbeck, Debi Bradford

The Bay Hill Conservancy's "Birding 101" presentation by TVA Watershed Representative Damien Simbeck Sunday afternoon, April 6, was fun and well-attended. Damien gave an audience of 20 a delightfully informative PowerPoint presentation on how to attract songbirds to our yards and neighborhoods. Birds need the same thing people need - cover for housing and protection, food and water.

FOOD

Damien outlined various available seeds, and the type of seed that attracted various birds, and informed us about specific seed that's a complete turn-off to songbirds. Fruits and hummingbird nectar were discussed, as well as meal worms and suet.

Carroll Adams conducts a short meeting before Damien's presentation

Interesting Hummingbird Facts:

When the hummingbirds migrate to Venezuela they lift off during nightfall, fly 36 hours straight and lands on the coast of Venezuela without stopping. When they land they must feed immediately, and they look for the color red. The reverse is true for migrating north - when they reach the coastline at the Gulf of Mexico they look for red, and some cities ban the hanging of red towels, red sheets, etc., because it will confuse the birds and they could starve. You CAN hang red towels up to attract them if you have feeders close by, so to attract them. Our own Red Buckeyes that line our banks naturally (I have a ton!) attract hummingbirds. They're an excellent native shrub or small tree. The hummingbirds will be here soon!

It's not necessary to purchase nectar for hummingbirds. A simple 1 to 4 mixture of sugar and water is all that's required. 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. NO MORE THAN THAT, or it would harm the birds. Also, do NOT use soap to clean feeders. Just water. If you need to use something, use SALT as an abrasive and rinse well.

The audience is fascinated

COVER

Damien showed the various styles of bird houses and was very entertaining with stories of his and his volunteer's experiences in the field checking bluebird houses. He gave us a good tip for keeping House Sparrows (who will kill bluebirds, btw) out of bluebird houses, and said that bluebirds do NOT like the condominium kind of arrangement. They want their own nest with lots of space around them. If you plan to put up more than one bluebird house make sure they are spaced at least 200 ft. apart.

In addition to the houses one can buy, natural cover is necessary for protection as well as nesting. Native plants provide the best of everything for birds - protection, cover and is usually a food source with berries and/or fruits. Damien gave us a list of native plants that would attract songbirds, and informed us about several non-native plants that are becoming intrusive, like privet, Bradford pears, mimosa and - just added to the list - nandina.

Brown Thrasher Nest in a Locust Tree on our bank

Interesting Fact

We were fascinated to learn that the invasive privet is the direct cause of the change in our American Robin's migration pattern. They used to migrate following a food source, but they love the privet berries. Now that privet is becoming a primary understory shrub the robins no longer have the driving need to migrate as their food source remains year round.

Baltimore Oriole Nest in my tree


Male Cardinal enjoys black-oil sunflower seeds

FEEDER BIRDS & NATIVE SPECIES

Damien's PowerPoint show ended with photos of all manner of birds we can attract to our yards. Most are found right here nearly every day, or migrate through during their season.

We laughed at Damien's description of the "Lord God" birds - the huge Piliated Woodpeckers and over sized Fox Sparrows. ....you just had to be there, folks.

We learned that White Breasted Nuthatches will only climb down trees and a Brown Creeper will only walk up trees. Mockingbirds will repeat a song multiple times while a Brown Thrasher will only repeat a song twice. Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks were seen at feeders last year thanks to the early killing frost, because that frost killed their primary food source - new green buds. House Finches were originally native to the western US, but bird smugglers were caught with hundreds of cages of them in New York, so they released the "evidence" into the wild, and now they're everywhere. Purple Finches do NOT like House Finches. Damien has seen Baltimore Oriole nests along the Tennessee River made of fishing line. Those were just a few highlights.

Damien Simbeck

Damien grew up in Lawrence County, Tennessee. His father, a high school biology teacher, was an avid naturalist and taught Damien to know and appreciate the plant and animal life around him. He joked about being born with binoculars around his neck. Damien attended the University of the South, then the University of North Alabama where he received a Bachelor of Science in professional biology. He received a Master of Science in Zoology from the University of Tennessee. His primary field of study was aquatic biology including fish taxonomy and biogeography.

Damien has a dream job, imho. He is employed as a Watershed Representative for the Tennessee Valley Authority, which means his office is usually lit by sunshine, he gets to count birds, and walk in fields and forests, and along riverways and streams. The occasional snake doesn't seem to bother him. He probably has some bad days, but then again...he gets to play outdoors and meet interesting people and see fascinating things. No doubt Damien will will scoff at my description of his job!

Female Bluebird poses for her portrait

Damien works with volunteer organizations to reduce the spread of invasive species on TVA properties, and has become one of the area's leading bird watchers. He is a member of both the Tennessee and Alabama Ornithological Societies and serves on the rare birds record committee for AOS. He is active in the Shoals Audubon Society, leading several field trips each year to watch birds in North Alabama.

Thank you, Damien, for coming to Bay Hill Village and delighting us with your birding knowledge.

Carroll Adams' White Pelicans

Carroll Adams must put something in the water outside her home that attracts birds. Last year she had Bald Eagles in January, and a little later in March was visited by American White Pelicans. They rarely come through here. I've never seen them before at all, but Damien Simbeck, wildlife specialist with TVA, said he has seen them before at Wilson Dam, but that was long ago. Who knows what brought them here, but here they were.

Male & Female paddle together

I looked them up on enature.com and a few other sites, and wanted to share this information with whoever may be interested:

An American White Pelican lands among Cormorants

"American White Pelicans are gregarious birds, often associated with Double-crested Cormorants. A flock of migrating American White Pelicans is a majestic sight-a long line of ponderous birds, flapping and coasting. Each bird seems to take its cue from the one in front of it, beginning to flap and starting a glide when its predecessor does. These birds ride rising air currents to great heights, where they soar slowly and gracefully in circles.

These birds are more buoyant than Brown Pelicans and do not dive for their food. They cooperate to surround fish in shallow water, scooping them into their pouches. They take in both water and fish, and then hold their bills vertically to drain out the water before swallowing the food. Because of pesticides, human disturbance, and the draining of wetlands, this species is in decline. The number of active colonies has dropped sharply in recent decades.

description 55-70" (1.4-1.8 m). W. 8' (2.4 m). A huge white bird with a long flat bill and black wing tips. In breeding season, has short yellowish crest on back of head and horny plate on upper mandible. Young birds duskier than adults." (Source: enature.com)

You'll notice that some of the White Pelicans are sporting a horny plate on their upper mandible - these are the males, and this was obviously breeding season. We had American White Pelicans fooling around on Wheeler Lake - I think that's pretty cool.

NEWS FLASH: I just received an e-mail from audubon regarding the 11th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count. Friday, February 15-Monday, February 18. Here's the link - check it out: http://www.birdcount.org.

Crepe Myrtle Fun in the Sun!

Bay Hill Conservancy members gathered at the corner of Rivers Edge Way and Conservancy Way to finish the crepe myrtle project this afternoon. For those who are new to the Conservancy, this project was our way of thanking Rivers Edge Condominium's HOA who graciously loaned us use of their conference room for our first two meetings. The sun was shining but the winds were brisk out of the north and west. My heavens, we all had our hats and hoodies yanked up over our ears to keep out the chill throughout most of the task!

Jan Perkins and Betty Benson pet the branches to soothe them after pruning

Carroll Adams gave a tutorial about "How To Prune (and not murder) a Crepe Myrtle" while Debi Bradford did a demonstration. From the middle of Rivers Edge Way Carroll, Betty Harrison and Linda Grinde headed north to work together, and Debi, Jan Perkins and Betty Benson headed south. Splitting the task made the work go smoothly and quickly.

Betty Harrison works her magic on this crepe myrtle.

Thanks for letting me take your photo, Betty!

The longer we worked the better the trees began to look. Several large branches were cut off, opening the trees thus allowing more sunlight and air flow within the canopy, promoting healthy growth. These particular crepe myrtles had never been pruned since being planted several years ago, and they were in desperate need.

Carroll Adams prunes off a dead branch

The entire event was quite fun! We laughed about petting the tree branches to soothe the cambium, and there was a rumor going around that some were talking to them as well. I wouldn't have been surprised - we all felt a kindship with these crepe myrtles and are looking forward to see them bloom this summer.

Linda Grinde attempts to weed the impossible

BUT WAIT! While the rest of us are standing upright working on trees Linda Grinde, with the help of Betty Harrison, are on hands and knees trying their hardest to weed the landscape beds in front of the Rivers Edge signs. It was indeed impossible. The beds haven't been kept up, and bermuda grass has completely taken them over. We'll have to leave that to Rivers Edge HOA to handle as they'll probably need to be completely redone. In Our Collective Humble Opinions, anyway!

Our First Bay Hill Conservancy project is over, and was a huge success! Carroll and Debi would like to thank Linda Grinde, Betty Benson, Betty Harrison and Jan Perkins for brandishing pruners and garden tools and braving the elements to thank our friends at Rivers Edge Condominiums.

Carroll Adams' Eagles

Carroll Adams and I drove northwest toward Waterloo in search of bald eagles the past two Januarys. You can read the stories on my blog, The Giraffe Head Tree, which you can link to from here - see the list to the left. However, last year Carroll and Wilda, perhaps others, had the good fortune to be visited by two bald eagles who swooped and played and ate fishes right outside their homes. Carroll took these shots and gave me permission to share them with everyone.

That is (was) one gigantic catfish.

Carroll should really tell her story about these eagles - perhaps in the comment area. If she sends me details I'll edit the post for everyone. In the meantime, I'll just post a couple more photos as they speak for themselves. Keep your eyes peeled for these glorious birds - rumor has it they've been spotted by several here over the past few weeks.

NO MORE CREPE "MURDER!"

Bay Hill Conservancy's first Work Day was glorious, sunny and in the mid-50's. Four happy souls enjoyed camaraderie and laughs while pruning the crepe myrtles along Rivers Edge Way, and weeding the beds located at the signs beside Snake Road. My personal apologies to Linda Grinde - I didn't give her enough time to stand upright before taking this shot! Sorry Linda!

Betty Benson, Linda Grinde, Carroll Adams and Debi Bradford worked down the eastern side of the road, pruning and weeding. Carroll took pride in placing the lighting once more in proper spots or setting them correctly. Betty and Linda weeded the eastern-most bed. Kayla Bradford and Baylee Bradford come to visit. Carroll handed out ACES informational sheets on how to prune crepe myrtles - a complete tutorial will ensue during the next Work Day.

We did NOT finish! After working an hour and a half we were very tired and "slap happy." We agreed to schedule another work day SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1:00pm - weather permitting. BYOT again, and we suggest bringing water. There are about 8 more large crepe myrtles to prune, and some finish work to do. I cannot stress enough one point of our mission - education. Every one of us have lots to share, and we all want our community to band together for the larger good. Please support your Bay Hill Conservancy.